


Preparing for a War

by sherlocks_watson



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Bucky mention, Character Death, Conspiracy Theories, Hulk - Freeform, Infinity War, No Spoilers, Science Bros, Thor mention, not quite relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-28 22:13:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14458887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherlocks_watson/pseuds/sherlocks_watson
Summary: SPOILER FREE ZONE (READ NOTES FOR SUMMARY)Based on prompt: "If one of your favs had to die, who would it be and how?"





	Preparing for a War

**Author's Note:**

> *THIS IS IN NO WAY CANON COMPLIANT* 
> 
> I haven't even seen the movie yet, this is just based on a made up prompt that my friend thought about and I wanted to write about.
> 
> Bruce and Tony reunite in the Wakandan lab as they both prepare new tech and weapons with Shuri for the war on Thanos. Includes: banter, Shuri vs Tony attitude, not a relationship between science bros yet but it is HEAVILY implied that somethin else is going on there.
> 
> Unbeta'd so goodluck friends lmao

He followed one of the guards through an elaborate hallway system, decorated beautifully hitting the mark between modern and antique.

“Right through here Mr. Banner.” She gestured towards a room that light seemed to pour out of.

“Thanks.” When he stepped into the Wakandan lab, he felt his chest swell. Bruce took in every sight, smell, and touch, wandering around, gulping in the extensive tech and medicines as if he were a dying man taking his last breath. Each step he only put another one of his theories or experiments to shame.

As he rounded a corner, still eyeing each weapon that lined the walls and counters, he saw two figures and smiled. One was a younger girl who looked to be in her teens, the other a grown man, both hunched over working on something very interesting.

_-tzzsh-_ Sparks flew out of their little project.

“That’s not right.” The girl criticized, hovering over the other’s shoulder, hand on hip.

“I-I know, I know stop terrorizing me.”

“I’m hardly-”

“You don’t think I can do it can you.” Tony. He sat back and stared at the girl, magnifying goggles strapped to his face.

“You said it. Not me, you-”

They both turned to him, hearing Bruce enter. The girl’s eyebrows furrowed briefly, trying to puzzle together who this stranger was. Tony’s lips curled ever so slightly, almost missed by Bruce.

“Banner! Not mean and green anymore I see.” Tony lifted the goggles off his face to properly greet his friend.

“Hey Stark.” Bruce closed the distance between them and grabbed his hand, giving it a solid shake. He turned to the girl to introduce herself.

“Shuri.” She smiled to greet him

“Bruce Banner.”

“You must be the incredible Hulk Mr. Stark has been babbling about.”

“I haven’t been babbling. I never babble.”

Shuri narrowed her eyes at the man, then gave Bruce a pointed look that said otherwise. “Welcome to Wakanda. I wish we could’ve met under different circumstances.”

Bruce looked to his feet, “Yea no kidding.” The air grew heavy as the direness of their situation dawned on them.

“I can give you some time in the lab if you want. Mr. Stark tells me you are a bit of the scientist yourself. Feel free to look around the facilities, they _are_ quite impressive.”

“Thank you, Shuri.”

"Mr. Stark if you touch anything that is not your's, my idiot brother will deal with you personally."

She eyed the older man suspiciously, making her point. Turning on her heels, she hurried out of the room as if she suddenly remembered she had somewhere important to be.

Tony got up from his stool to give Bruce a proper welcome.

“Hey bud.” Tony wrapped his arms around his closest friend, pulling him in tight.

“Hey Tony.” Bruce breathed deeply again, trying to commit the moment to memory, being reunited. They stayed frozen, just like that, for a few moments. “Glad to be home.”

“Wouldn’t have guess you were Wakandan by looking at ya.”

“Home- earth, remember?”

“Oh right, I forgot. You’re an intergalactic space-Hulk now right?”

“Something like that I guess.” Bruce stepped next to Tony to watch what he was doing. “What do you have going on here?”

The engineer turned back to his project, “Trying to simplify the boot-mounted repulsor jet packs from Mark 42- make them more user friendly for other teammates. Sooner or later we’ll get the jolly green giant airborne.” He smirked to Bruce, who was still trying to take in the intricate wiring.

Bruce leaned on the table and cocked his head toward Tony, “Will you quit it with the jokes about the Other Guy?”

Tony zapped Bruce with the low voltage circuit he was handling, “Ow! Christ Stark, what did I just say?”

“You said no jokes, and _that_ was not a joke. It’s just like the first time we worked together on the helicarrier, huh Brucie?” Tony winked and turned his attentions back to the cluster of metal.

Banner wasn’t one to redden easily, but he found himself blushing at Tony’s charm. Secretly, he missed this banter.

For the next week they worked side by side with each other and often Shuri, who had endearingly made her way into their hearts before they knew it.

Bruce fondly remembered one day where she and Stark had gone toe to toe about who was smarter- Tony desperately trying to defend his suits, Shuri shutting him up by letting him hit her esteemed impact suits with the wrist repulsor.

But they couldn’t avoid the obvious, that tension was brewing every day and any moment could be the moment Thanos attacks. They all worked diligently anyways.

Shuri jumped excitedly, finally having solved an issue on one of her personal projects for T’Challa, “Yes! I will be right back you two.” She clutched whatever she could carry in her arms to her chest, speed walking right out of the lab.

“Someone’s happy,” Bruce remarked, receiving no reply. They both had grown content to work next to each other in silence.

“Thor told me about Sakaar. And Asgard.” Tony commented eventually, “Do you…wanna talk about it?”

Bruce sat deep in thought before responding, “I dunno, Tony. All I remember from Sakaar are the things that Thor told me and, by the sound of it, it’s probably something I’m better off forgetting. I keep trying to justify the arena fights by telling myself that it wasn’t me, it was the Other Guy. I still feel a whole hell of a lot guilty for it still.” Banner continued to work, but Tony was busy studying the other man’s face.

“I heard you said something about staying Hulked out? What was that about?”

“Well from my pretty limited knowledge of the Other Guy, he seems to be more in control than I thought. Especially after those two years of practice after Ultron.” Tony let his eyes fall to the floor, feeling partly responsible for Bruce’s years of pain, locked away in the Hulk.

“Do you ever think… do you ever think he’ll go away?”

Bruce shrugged, “I dunno. It seems impossible to never be angry for the rest of your life. I could probably go into some shit about self-realization, meditation, and finding true bliss but who knows how long that would last.”

“From what it sounds like, mister, you think you’ll never truly be happy.”

They found each other’s faces. “Not true.” Bruce had said, smirking, “I’m pretty okay with where I’m at right now.”

Tony smiled at the man sitting not two feet from him. Then he heard the shattering of glass behind Bruce, screaming from the hall behind himself. He felt something wet hitting his cheek and top lip. At this moment, time froze for Tony. His smile fell when he touched his face. _Blood,_ he noted, watching Banner recoil from the shot and begin to topple over, _Banner’s blood._

Bruce’s eyes were shaky, glassing over quickly like they were trying to reach Tony.

He heard a shriek coming from Shuri as she ran to his side. Tony looked at her with the face of a confused child looking for an explanation. Stare nearly blank, Bruce's blood already drying speckled around his mouth and cheek. He looked back to Banner lying unceremoniously on the floor, blue button up shirt stained crimson and torn where the bullet entered his back.

Shuri tugged on his arm screaming something he couldn’t hear. Something about needing to leave probably.

He stumbled back as she tried to lead him away, eyes glued to Bruce. _No Hulk_. Tony waited. _Where’s Hulk?_ He waited. The bullet must have been too quick, too unexpected. No time for the Hulk to anticipate it and come to the rescue. When they both needed it most.

There was another yell from Shuri, “ _Stark!_ ” More bullets sounded off, “We need to _go_. We need armor, there’s armies flooding through our doors. Please!”

“Bruce.” He finally said, his voice barely audible. His hands were shaking with tremors and he clenched them. Bullets whizzed through the lab, different things clattering to the floor. Tony stepped forward but someone bigger than him, stronger than him, had dragged him from behind and carried him out the door. A man. Bucky? Probably.

Though he was being led away, Stark couldn’t peel his eyes from the sight. Glass surrounding his body, blood pooling around his face, limbs contorted uncomfortably. A murder. A declaration of war.

**Author's Note:**

> I dunno it's been a while since I've written one of these, hopefully I'm still half decent. PLEASE keep comments spoiler free!!


End file.
